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Egypt: We Look Forward to Fruitful Cooperation With Russia in Various Domains - FM

CAIRO, Egypt, November 16, 2013 (ESIS) -- Addressing a joint press conference following a meeting with the visiting Russian delegation to Egypt, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy said that Egypt looks forward to a fruitful cooperation with Russia , a key world player, in the various fields.

He said that Egypt and Russia have continuous and longstanding relations in many fields, adding that the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov earlier in the day tackled international and regional issues as well as bilateral relations.

"The situation in Syria and efforts to convene the Geneva 2 conference in search of a political solution to the war-torn country, Mideast peace and US efforts to reach Palestinian-Israeli negotiations were also discussed," he said.

The Egyptian top diplomat asserted the importance of reaching a peaceful solution to the Palestinian problem, expressing deep concern about practices on the ground that harm the negotiations and render attaining a peaceful settlement a difficult mission.

He said talks also covered many important issues, especially those connected with neighboring countries like the conditions in Libya and Sudan and Africa as well as international and regional security affairs, most particularly the call for making the Middle East an area free of weapons of mass destruction in the light of Egypt's relevant recommendations in this vein and resolutions of the 2010 Non-proliferation Treaty conference.

The longstanding cooperation in multiple fields, especially in the military one, was one of the topics taken up by the Egyptian and Russian defense ministers yesterday, Fahmy said, noting that talks between the two sides also covered cooperation in the economic, investment, development, tourist and trade domains.

Both sides agreed on the need to hold joint ministerial committee talks to give a stronger impetus to bilateral cooperation, he said, pointing out that an experts committee will be meeting at the earliest possible time to set a date for a ministerial get-together.

Lavrov, meanwhile, said that it serves Moscow's interests to have Egypt as a stable state with a developed economy and an efficient governmental performance, stressing that moving forward to amend the constitution and put it into a public referendum would allow Egypt to get ahead towards achieving its aspired goals.

He said his talks with Fahmy today which tackled the situation in Egypt, came in continuation of the talks they had held in Moscow in September.

Russia makes it a rule to abide by the principle of non-interference in other countries' affairs, the Russian foreign minister said, underlining that his country respects Egypt's sovereignty and the Egyptians' right to self-determination.

He said that his talks with his Egyptian counterpart covered bilateral relations and working to consolidate communication between the two countries as well as activating the joint ministerial committee to boost cooperation, noting that the two sides are mulling increasing cooperation in the fields of investment, energy, heavy industries and the production of building materials.

"Russia is ready to assist Egypt in any field, and welcomes all ideas that would boost cooperation between them in the fields of science and politics on a constant basis," he said.

The Russian foreign minister said he agreed with his Egyptian counterpart on continuing dialogue to boost tourism, making clear that the end of the emergency state in Egypt would encourage the return of Russian tourists to Egypt.

Lavrov said he is sure that other countries want also to send its nationals to visit the tourist attractions in Egypt.

He said both Egypt and Russia share the same stance towards holding the Geneva 2 conference on Syria as quickly as possible and holding a face-to-face dialogue among all Syrian partners with the help of the international community.

Lavrov expressed support of Egypt's role in resuming Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and finding a solution to security problem in Sinai.

Asked whether the rapprochement between Egypt and Russia is a temporary one because of disagreements with other countries, Lavrov said Russia has a strong history of good relations with Egypt, including the joint political struggle for justice.

As for economic cooperation, he said there are many suggestions to modernize the facilities that were built during the Soviet Union in Egypt and set up new ones.

He also unveiled that there are 100 flights being operated between Egypt and Russia weekly. (This article was originally published by the Egypt State Information Service)